


Fear

by sshysmm



Category: Lymond Chronicles - Dorothy Dunnett
Genre: Companionable Snark, Ficlet, Gen, M/M, Post-Canon, Prompt Fill, Rats, Tumblr Prompt, blink and you'll miss it reference to reconciliation with Kuzúm, the usual Jerott and Lymond feels of is this / or &
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:08:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22016125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sshysmm/pseuds/sshysmm
Summary: A prompt fill for 'Someone's greatest fear' in which I wanted to avoidCheckmatespoilers. Jerott takes some persuading to follow Francis into a rat-infested barn.Originally posted on tumblr.
Relationships: Jerott Blyth & Francis Crawford of Lymond and Sevigny, Jerott Blyth/Francis Crawford of Lymond and Sevigny
Kudos: 1





	Fear

"I just don't like them."

Lymond turned, a quizzical line bisecting his brows.

In the barn doorway, Jerott Blyth - hero of the Great Siege of Malta, survivor of the Battle of Djerba, Chevalier and mercenary and soldier to his core - stood with his strong grip on the frame, and peered uneasily into the dark depths of the building. A shadow moved; the straw slithered with sound as small feet scuttled over it, and Jerott's head jerked with revulsion.

"Your house is a menagerie, Francis, how on earth do any rats survive?"

Lymond looked about him mildly, struck by the strangeness of the question. "Well if we had no rats, we would not be able to keep so many cats. They must eat, must they not?"

Jerott inhaled a shaky breath and forced himself to step inside the barn. He placed each brown leather boot slowly, heel to toe, and his hand waited ready to draw a sword that he was not wearing.

"You know they're full of disease? If you'd seen what I've seen in an Ottoman cell you wouldn't encourage them."

Leading the way into the dusty recesses, past disintegrating bales and tools in need of mending, Lymond did not prettify his response: "In fact, I found the rats to be the best company on board the French galleys. Certainly the healthiest."

Then he stopped and Jerott nearly walked straight into him, his eyes fixed on phantoms in the gloomy corners.

"However," said Francis quietly, meeting Jerott's startled eyes. "If they upset you then please return to the house. I will ask Richard to help me get the quintain out on the weekend, and Kuzúm shall have his practice then."

Jerott swallowed and found the depths of that sapphire blue stare as difficult to examine as the restless shadows around them. But still, with a familiar feeling of vertigo came the confidence that he had lacked - the sense that, at Lymond's command, he might do anything at all - and Jerott held his ground, the toes of their boots touching.

"No. I'll help you now."

Lymond's smile, light as a wisp of straw, lit his way as they went deeper into the barn.


End file.
